The Toledo Rockets trailed by 14 points in the first half and by 11 at halftime on Saturday afternoon in Huntington, West Virginia — and then scored 54 points in the second half to rally past Marshall 81-76 at the Cam Henderson Center for their first win of the season, according to the University of Toledo’s athletics recap and the Associated Press.
Toledo (1-2) fell behind 25-11 with 8:43 left in the first half and went into the locker room down 38-27, the university’s recap reported. The Rockets outscored the Thundering Herd 54-38 after halftime, flipping a game that featured 14 lead changes, nine of them in the second half.
Two Rockets carried the comeback. Angel Montas Jr. scored 20 points off the bench and added five rebounds, according to the Associated Press report of the game. Mynor Strong also scored 20 points, 16 of them in the second half, tied a school record with seven steals and went 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, the university’s recap reported. Jaylan Ouwinga added 11 points for Toledo.
Marshall (1-1) got a career-high 23 points from Bryce Slay and 22 points and four assists from Noah Otshudi, according to the Associated Press, but the Herd could not hold the lead it built in the first half. Toledo shot 55 percent from the field in the second half, according to Marshall’s athletics recap, turning defensive pressure — led by Strong’s seven steals — into the points that closed the gap and then won the game.
The win steadied Toledo after an 0-2 start to the season. The Rockets’ first week had been a study in contrasts: the women’s team pushed No. 6 Michigan State to the final minutes at Savage Arena on Saturday in a game NewsForce247 covered — Toledo women push Michigan State to the end in 72-64 loss — while the men had dropped a lopsided road game against that same Michigan State program earlier in the week, as NewsForce247 reported in Shorthanded Toledo Rockets fall 91-61 at No. 6 Michigan State.
Saturday’s result matters for how it was built as much as the score. A team that starts 0-2 and then falls behind by 14 on the road in its third game has an easy path to a long afternoon; instead, Toledo’s bench produced its leading scorer, its defense produced a school-record-tying steal total from Strong, and its offense produced 54 second-half points — the profile of a Mid-American Conference contender finding its footing rather than a team spiraling.
The numbers behind the rally underline how complete the turnaround was. Toledo’s 54 second-half points came on 55 percent shooting after halftime, according to Marshall’s athletics recap, and the Rockets’ pressure produced Strong’s seven steals — a total that tied the school record, according to the University of Toledo. Marshall controlled the glass behind Erich Harding’s 13 rebounds and Khaman Maker’s 10, according to Marshall’s recap, but the Herd’s 14-point first-half cushion disappeared as Toledo forced the game’s nine second-half lead changes in its favor.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is known: the final score, the halftime deficit, the scoring lines for Montas, Strong and Ouwinga, and the school-record-tying seven steals — all confirmed by both the university’s recap and the Associated Press. What remains to be seen is whether the second-half formula travels: whether Montas’s bench scoring and Strong’s defensive disruption hold up when the Rockets face a full week of opponents who have now seen the tape.
Marshall, meanwhile, suffered its first loss of the season after leading most of the afternoon. Slay’s career-high 23 and Otshudi’s 22 kept the Herd in front until Toledo’s late surge, and Sean Jones’s free throw in the final seconds sealed the five-point margin, according to the game’s play-by-play record.
What happens next comes quickly for both teams. Toledo returns home to Savage Arena on Tuesday to host Wright State, according to the Associated Press, looking to even its record at 2-2. Marshall has the shorter turnaround: the Herd visits Ohio State in Columbus on Monday night.
Photo: MrJacon000, CC BY-SA 4.0